John Fuller, Ed.D.

Since it was so shocking in nature, it has taken a while to have the Chicago kidnapping, torture and just pure evil taken out on a disabled young man totally sink in. Now that it has, as an American, I am just appalled and sickened by this event. Some people are so far removed from decency and morality that they must have hate purely embedded in them. There are those who are making comparisons that if this were a black disabled young man who suffered a similar brutal episode by white perpetrators, there would be no doubt it would be a hate crime. As those who have read my book know, the theme throughout is that “it is all about us” as Americans regardless of identity. I am really opposed to the use of “hate crime” because that has become one of the cause celebre of the left who truly wants to remain divided by identity jumping at every opportunity to say it was a hate crime for this or that regardless of the act committed; their main objective is division versus E Pluribus Unum. One would think by all of the media coverage, however, is that whether it is a hate crime or not, that designation is more important than to what actual crime was brutally dished out to the young man who will suffer this senseless act throughout his lifetime.

Would it have made any difference to the victim if he was enduring the torture due to an attempt for a robbery or a gang retaliation? Hate is hate and this certainly was pure hate in full live view for all to see. Yet for some to assign even more credence to whether it is a “hate crime” than to the act itself should be appalling to Americans. That is only one reason that the hate crime laws should be retired. Americans deserve to be treated as such and no divisive label, hyphen, or “protected” class can alter the fact that a brutal crime is a brutal crime regardless of motive. Kidnapping and torture are the same regardless of any status and the effects are terrifying, painful, humiliating, and lifetime of haunted memories. Being of one race or another, one special group or another makes no difference of the outcome and the suffering it inflicts.

You could see the left apologists rising to the defense of the vaunted “hate crime” designation and that it should not be assigned to these individuals. They were young and this got out of hand said one. Another commentator even stated that it should not be a hate crime if the perpetrators were doing it solely for their hatred of Donald Trump! Really?! It is no small wonder why the Democratic Party lost the election with representatives on television uttering that idiotic nonsense.

There will be no true accountability for the young man who suffered through this since his is a lifetime of horrid memories. The four arrested evil people who bragged about what they were doing callously; even broadcasting it live online. These four should know that, where they are (hopefully) going, they will have zero respect in prison and no chance for a future. From their arrest photos it looks like the “I am all that gangster” poses in their mug shots, they probably did not want a bright future anyway. Now if these revolting four people get off without punishment, then that is a massive miscarriage of justice and a crime against humanity; far more than what a so called hate crime would be.